slack-watern.
1. The time at high or low water when the tide is not flowing visibly in either direction.Occurs earlier as slake water: see slake adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > tide > type of tide > [noun] > slack
slake water1589
still water1626
slack1642
pinch-water1682
pinch1721
slack-water1769
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Slack-water, the interval between the flux and reflux of the tide..during which..the water apparently remains in a state of rest.
1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster I. xviii. 266 The ebb-tide was..over; a short pause of ‘slack water’ ensued.
1875 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. (ed. 2) v. 170 This long period of nearly slack water is very valuable to the traffic of the port.
2. A stretch of comparatively still water in the sea, due to the absence of currents.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > state of sea > [noun] > calm stretch due to absence of currents
slack-water1853
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. x. 76 It is..probable that a portion of the interval between the eastern and western coasts is the seat of a partial slackwater, or even rotating eddy.
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands i. iv. 65 The north of Herm is the point of land where there would be slack water.
3. A part of a river lying outside of the current, or one in which the flow is lessened by a lock or dam. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > system > [noun] > still part
keld1697
steady1792
slack1825
slack-water basin1836
slack-water1837
1837 J. M. Peck Gazetteer Illinois (ed. 2) iii. 264 Fox river is susceptible of improvement by slack water at small expense.
1867 G. F. Chambers Descr. Astron. iii. ii. 235 There is no ‘slack-water’, as is ordinarily the case in other rivers.
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 July 1 [To] swim..into the current, get swept down by it a quarter of a mile, and paddle slowly back again in the slackwater.
1901 Scotsman 25 Mar. 7/3 The House again fell into the slack water of small talk.
Compounds
C1. attributive, as slack-water basin, slack-water deposit, slack-water period, slack-water stream.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > system > [noun] > still part
keld1697
steady1792
slack1825
slack-water basin1836
slack-water1837
1836 J. Hall Statistics of West 38 At low stages the [Ohio] river becomes resolved into a succession of ripples, with extensive slack water basins between them.
1861 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner ii. 9 This slack-water period of a race, which comes before the rapid ebb of its prosperity.
1889 G. F. Wright Ice Age N. Amer. 358 The Ohio above Cincinnati was a slack-water stream.
1894 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 196 The ice-dam accounts most naturally for the slack-water deposits.
C2.
slack-water navigation n. navigation carried on by the use of locks or dams on a river.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > [noun] > by river or canal
inland navigation1727
canalling1834
slack-water navigation1842
rivering1891
1842 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 5 75/2 It was concluded that the time had arrived for changing the navigation of the Lehigh into a slackwater navigation.
1877 W. H. Burroughs On Taxation 28 It is difficult to see how the advantages of slackwater navigation..can be brought within the range of local objects.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1769